Bicam OKs creation of Civil Aviation Authority

MANILA, Philippines – Congress is ready to pass a bill seeking to create a fiscally autonomous Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) in compliance with the safety requirements of the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA).

Last Tuesday, the bicameral conference committee reconciled the Senate and House of Representatives versions of the bill.

Once the bill becomes law, the Air Transportation Office (ATO) would be abolished and replaced by the CAA. The Civil Aeronautics Board will not be touched.

Sen. Juan Ponce Enrile, bicameral conference committee co-chairman, is confident that the FAA would upgrade the Philippines from Category 2 to Category 1 after the CAA has been created.

“The ATO will be replaced with the Civil Aviation Authority, which will be governed by a board comprised of Cabinet members,” he said.

“There will be no private persons. That’s the executive side. Under the CAA, the operating officer will be the director general.”

Enrile said the bill aims to allow the CAA to keep fees it collects and spend the money to improve facilities and hire competent technical personnel.

“The ATO collection, outside of NAIA, Subic, and Clark, is P2.9 billion for 2007,” he said. “They’ll have to use that to improve the system and training for controllers (and) technical people.”

Enrile said the bill also seeks to exempt the CAA from the Salary Standardization Law so it can pay technical personnel based on internationally acceptable rates.

“All their collections will be retained in their favor and be used for the improvement of the safety facilities of the air industry,” he said.

No airline or plane will be exempted from paying landing or communication or whatever fees imposed by CAA, he added.

Technical personnel are not covered by the Salary Standardization Law to discourage them from transferring to better paying jobs in private corporations and airlines, Enrile said.

On the other hand, Sen. Edgardo Angara, who co-sponsored the bill, is optimistic that the Philippines will recover from the downgrade of its aviation ratings by the FAA.

“One of the reasons why our safety aviation rating has been downgraded is because we lack a centralized aviation body,” he said.  – Christina Mendez